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Singapore-International Physiotherapy Congress 2026
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Workshop Speakers

Pre-Congress Workshops - Workshop 1

Bridging Hospital to Home: Practical Respiratory Care and Patient Education for Physiotherapists

Learning objectives:

1. Respiratory Symptoms Management strategies

Learn practical, clinically applicable approaches in the following areas:

Managing breathlessness,
⁠Airway clearance techniques, current or emerging in practice
⁠Cough augmentation techniques, with emphasis on solutions that are feasible in community and home settings.

2. Supporting Return to Community and Reintegration into Daily Activities

With:

Effective patient education on symptom recognition and self-management.
⁠Gradual activity progression and improving tolerance.
⁠Pacing and energy conservation approaches.
⁠Addressing fear and anxiety around breathlessness, which commonly lead to reduced activity and deconditioning.

Facilitator: Dr Judy King

Biography: Dr King is a physiotherapist and associate professor in the physiotherapy program at the University of Ottawa in Canada where she teaches the cardiorespiratory component of the program.

Her innovative person-centred research program encompasses both patient education and education of health care students and professionals. Her fields of study include chronic disease management, health literacy, interprofessional education and clinical reasoning. She has been privileged to present her research work at many international conferences.

Dr King is grateful to be the recipient of a number of awards for her teaching and mentoring of students and new health professionals including a Chair in University Teaching.

She has been appointed to several national and international committees including being a founding executive committee member of the International Confederation of Cardiorespiratory Physical Therapists (ICCrPT) of World Physiotherapy and currently is an executive member of the World Physiotherapy’s Education Committee.

Pre-Congress Workshops - Workshop 2

Developing Sustainable and Scalable Physiotherapy-led Physical Activity Interventions

Learning objectives:

To understand why physical inactivity is a critical problem to be addressed and the important role of physiotherapy globally to address this challenge.
To understand key theories underpinning physical activity behaviour change and the use of health coaching and motivational interviewing techniques to address physical inactivity.
To design a physical activity intervention for your local context underpinned by evidence, theory and interest-holder input.
To understand key concepts of implementation science and how it can help with designing and evaluating your physical activity intervention.
To design a physical activity intervention for your local context with consideration for implementability, scalability and sustainment.

Facilitator: A/Prof Leanne Hassett

Biography: A/Prof Hassett is an Australian physiotherapist with a background as a neurological physiotherapist, working clinically for 15 years in adult traumatic brain injury rehabilitation. Leanne is currently the Associate Professor of Allied Health (Western Sydney Local Health District), a conjoint role between the University of Sydney and a local health district in Sydney, Australia.

Leanne also co-leads the Implementation Science Academy at Sydney Health Partners, one of 12 Australian Research Translation Centres, with a focus on building capacity and capability in translational research across the health system.

Leanne’s current research focuses on synthesis of evidence and testing effectiveness and implementation of physical activity interventions in healthcare and community settings. She has made a significant contribution to the understanding of how to deliver and promote physical activity in people with moderate to severe TBI through the conduct of clinical trials, systematic reviews and the recent development of a national clinical practice guideline.

Pre-Congress Workshop - Workshop 3

The Cross Bracing Protocol: A Non-surgical Treatment To Facilitate Healing Of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rupture

Learning objectives:

Understand contemporary research evidence for ACL injury consequences and management options including research evidence of ACL healing.
Understand the evolution of the Cross Bracing Protocol, medical considerations, and appropriate patient selection.
Understand ACL injury shared decision-making in clinical practice.
Practice advanced practical skills of assessment to differentially diagnose presenting sporting knee conditions.
Practice brace fitting and brace angle changes using variety of possible knee braces.
Learn and practice evidence informed rehabilitation during the Cross Bracing Protocol.
Understand common issues and appropriate impairment assessment both during the bracing and brace removal phases.
Understand and practice criteria based, acute, intermediate and late-stage ACL rehabilitation stages using a range of assessment and intervention domains including using VALD medical technology.
Understand and Practice criteria-based return to sport testing post ACL injury.

Facilitator: A/Prof Stephanie Filbay

Biography: A/Prof Stephanie Filbay is a physiotherapist, NHMRC Fellow, Dame Kate Campbell Fellow, Principal Research Fellow and co-lead of the Musculoskeletal and Sports Medicine Stream of the Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine at the University of Melbourne.

Drawing on her extensive research, A/Prof Filbay is recognised for promoting evidence-based management of ACL injury and developing strategies to improve outcomes for patients. She has presented her research over 100 times to a variety of stakeholders, serves on committees for international organisations, has supervised 30 individuals at various career stages and received numerous awards, scholarships, and grants for her research.

A/Prof Filbay was recently awarded a consecutive NHMRC Investigator Grant to fund a further five years of research aimed at improving outcomes for people with ACL injury and was awarded over $2M in funding to lead a large clinical trial comparing ACL injury outcomes between people managed with the Cross Bracing Protocol and ACL reconstruction.

Facilitator: Dr Jane Rooney

Biography: Dr Jane Rooney, FACP, is a Specialist Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist (Sub-specialityknee), Titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and an Associate Clinical Professor at Swinburne University, Melbourne. Awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2016, Jane travelled through Europe, Scandinavia and the USA to investigate management algorithms and rehabilitation strategies for ACL injury. This work led to a research collaboration with Dr Stephanie Filbay exploring treatment decision making following ACL rupture in Australia, ultimately informing a free online patient decision aid for shared decision-making.

Since 2020, Jane has been a leading implementer of the Cross Bracing Protocol and co-authored the 2023 BJSM case series. She is also a co-author and rehabilitation protocol co-designer for the EMBRACE multicentre RCT, comparing Cross Bracing with ACL reconstruction.

With over 35 years of clinical experience, Jane works as a clinical expert in ACL injury non and post operative management and criteria-based rehabilitation, supporting athletes of all levels.